Koivu working to come back "as soon as possible"

I'll be hosting a live chat on startribune.com at 1 p.m. CT, so come on back in a little bit.

Wild captain Mikko Koivu, who broke a finger on his left hand last Friday against Anaheim, addressed the media for the first time this morning. He said he'll see the doctor again next Monday and should have a better idea than how it's healing. He said they'll take it week by week, but the good thing is he'll be able to work out and skate while his finger gets better.

“It’s feeling a little better already," Koivu said. "We had some good news yesterday not to get the surgery. I’m supposed to be back sooner than we first thought. The break is in a good spot. Obviously frustrated. …

"Well, that’s the thing. We’re right in the middle of it, things were going good and everybody’s having fun and playing hard for each other, so the timing is probably the worst it can be. I think that makes it tough. But it is what it is. Try to work hard with the trainers and come back as soon as possible.”

I'll have Koivu video on startribune.com ASAP

In other news, Matt Cullen will move up and play with Andrew Brunette and Antti Miettinen tonight, while Kyle Brodziak will move back with Marty Havlat, along with Pierre-Marc Bouchard.

Cal Clutterbuck did leave the ice grimacing early, but Todd Richards believes he just tweaked something and should be ok to play.

The Wild will go with 7 D tonight again, but the plan is to eventually go back to 6D once Marek Zidlicky feels comfortable enough to play a regular shift both physically with the shoulder and conditioning-wise.

Lastly, "Russo Radio" tonight at 6 on 1500 ESPN.

Michael Russo has covered the National Hockey League since 1995. He has covered the Minnesota Wild for the Star Tribune since 2005, after 10 years of covering the Florida Panthers for the Sun-Sentinel. He uses “Russo’s Rants” to feed a wide-ranging hockey-centric discussion with readers, and can be heard weekly on KFAN (100.3 FM) radio and seen weekly on Fox Sports North.